What
is the "Ask the Experts online Jam (ATE)", and how does it work?of 12 hours (8am eastern - 8pm eastern USA) through the TUC
Ask the Experts Online Jam tool.Your
questions along with the answers are then archived on the TUC website to be
uses as a reference for all the worldwide TUC members.

The IBM Support portal continues to improve the online service available to customers. On May 19th, the newest release of this rapidly evolving support portal, added many new updates including n.fluent , providing a key in linkage in our significant online resources now available in many local languages. This change comes on top of the recent announcement of the recognition that IBM wins ASP Top 10 Best Web Support for 2010 award for IBM Support Portal The usage and value that is delivered, grows every month, providing a rapid complete resource for customer to find the very latest infomation and solutions. To follow the latest news on the emerging IBM Support Portal updates, you can subscribe to the IBM Developerworks Blog, the IBM Electronic Support community

As we're preparing for Pulse, I get the opportunity to speak many individuals who will be at the conference this month. One such individual is Anthony Aurigemma, the Worldwide leader of
the Software Accelerated Value program (AVP) for IBM Tivoli Software. He has been in this role since 2006 and has been with IBM since
2004, when he joined Tivoli as part of IBM's acquisition of Candle
Corporation. I asked him to a few questions about the AVP that he will be discussing in depth at Pulse.

What is the IBM Software Accelerated Value Program?Anthony: The IBM Software Accelerated Value Program delivers a "proactive, cost-reducing, and productivity enhancing" advisory service. The program pairs each client with an assigned team who builds a foundational understanding of the client's overall environment. Through that understanding, the trusted partner works to facilitate faster deployment, lifecycle leadership, risk mitigation, and more by identifying ways to improve the client's environment, staff skill set, and processes.

Each of our AVP contracts are customized to specifically meet the client's needs and price point by creating a combination of services, including remote or on-site assistance, best practice sharing, skill building activities, and diagnostic coaching. Ultimately, AVP allows our clients to derive maximum business value from their successfully deployed IBM software with proven, quantifiable results.

Why should people purachase AVP?Anthony: The IBM Software
Accelerated Value Program is built on a simple value proposition: To
help clients unlock the full value of IBM middleware software by
leveraging effective solutions that ensure quantifiable results. The
demand for today's businesses to respond flawlessly to potential
volatility requires our customers to continually find ways to achieve
higher productivity and savings from their IT infrastructure, while
continuing to plan for the future needs of their business.

We
provide our customers a customized solution that specifically meets
their needs by creating a combination of services and we directly
partner with them to ensure their success.

Why are you going to Pulse?Anthony: AVP is at Pulse for a couple of reasons this year. First, we want to acknowledge our current Accelerated Value customers and show our appreciation to them for their loyalty to us. We're doing this in two ways. First, we are having a lounge at the Client Reference lounge in the Expo hall for our current clients to come in and hang out, check e-mail, and socialize with us and other customers. We'll be serving food and beverages and, we'll be having speakers coming in at scheduled intervals to talk about specific topics on Tivoli software and how AVP helps. We are also hosting an invitation-only reception for AVP customers.

The other reason we are at Pulse is to introduce ourselves to those attendees who are not familiar with us. You know, we used to be called Premium Support, but we underwent a transition late last year and upgraded our name to "Software Accelerated Value." We feel this new name better reflects the value we deliver to our customers in helping them unlock the value of their IBM software investment.

How can people learn more about AVP?Anthony: For those
attending Pulse, come visit us at our lounge in the Expo Hall, where
we're located alongside the Client Reference lounge. For those not
attending Pulse, visit our website at
http://www.ibm.com/software/support/acceleratedvalue/. You can also
follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/IBMSoftwareValu.

Welcome to the IBM Tivoli Software blog. A variety of
authors who represent different parts of the IBM Tivoli organization will
discuss a range of Tivoli-related topics such as new product and solution
announcements, acquisition strategies, product and information development,
support and services offerings, upcoming events, helpful resources, and heroes
in the broader Tivoli network, to name a few. This blog provides
multi-directional communication with the public, and we encourage and look forward
to your feedback, thoughts, and questions.

I'm Tiffany Winman, the
Tivoli community and social media program manager, and my blog
topics tend to focus on communities, people, companies, heroes, and stories in
the broader Tivoli
"ecosystem" and the use of innovative social technologies to
facilitate online social networking and collaboration. When I'm not blogging on
group blogs such as Tivoli, Service Management, Pulse, and Web 2.0 Goes to Work,
you can join me in riveting ;) conversation on my individual blog.